


Sleep Walker

by Marvelouslife



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, POV Poe Dameron, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Pre-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25559581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvelouslife/pseuds/Marvelouslife
Summary: Rey's been getting up at night, and doing some strange things. Poe is the only one who is bothered by it, so he investigates.
Relationships: Poe Dameron & Rey
Kudos: 3





	Sleep Walker

It had been happening for a while now, and honestly, Poe Dameron wasn’t sure what to do at this point. He was a light sleeper, he was trained to wake at the quietest sounds of the night. To be alert and ready for when any danger set foot in his vicinity. He was a hawk with sight, a Dagobah bat in hearing, and every night he would hear Rey leave her shelter. 

At first, he figured she was getting up for a late night snack. The whole “eating three times a day” idea started to truly sink in for her. He almost felt bad for her, sorry for the life she lived, but she was a strong and independent girl because of her struggles, so he couldn’t necessarily pity her for the advantage that so many others lack at her age. He could fall back to sleep without a second thought once he believed that was what she was doing. Maybe a few times he would check out the window (because he couldn’t be too sure), and see her come back a moment later as if she had received her fill. Dameron was assured, and he got himself good night’s rest.

That was until he started hearing muffled sounds coming from the same direction Rey typically walked. The ruffles of bushes, or the occasional snap of the twig was fair enough, but the constant racket of a grunt or a stifled scream was getting annoying. He thought when he first heard it she was getting attacked, but when he looked outside she was walking back into her shelter with no scratch on her. His next guess was that she was having unanimous sex with some guy she hooked up at the base. It wasn’t a wild assumption, and he understood those urges, but when it affected his sleep, those urges would have to wait. 

The next night he woke once again to her travels, but this time, they came with dialogue. She was too far from his hovel for him to hear what she was saying, but it sounded authoritarian. She sounded like she was commanding somebody. He believed it was a kink. Her new boyfriend clearly wanted her to dominate, and she was more than happy to comply. Dameron found it uncomfortable to have to confront them in the middle of their intimate acts, but his sleep was more important than their humility. He stood up, and walked towards her direction.

She was walking farther into the woods, but not a major distance that she wouldn’t be heard. Dameron tilted his head in confusion, watching as she spoke to thin air. Her posture was different. She was standing with a tenseness to her back, as if she was holding her breath, or just simply holding back. Her spine was straight, but not because of her relaxed demeanor, she was forcing it up and straining it. She was calm, her voice softer than the usual rigid edge that came with her character. Yet, she had a strength behind her speech, a truth that no one would know and could only find through her lips. Rey talked to the air as if speaking to an audience, and Dameron knew he had to get closer to hear exactly what she spoke.

He was a feet behind her when he was going to call out her name, but Rey stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around quickly, and Dameron stared at her dumbfounded. 

Her eyes were closed. She was asleep. She was sleepwalking. 

After the revelation was discovered, he chose the next morning to tell her. She apologized for disturbing his sleep, and promised to not do it again, but Dameron knew this wasn’t a condition she could control. Once night hit, she was up again, talking to herself, and Dameron was stuck with the noise. 

He tried waking her up in the middle of her walks, but she was in a deep sleep, a comatose state that no shakes could wake her from. He thought about tying her down before bed, but he figured that would be inhumane and cruel even if she agreed. So on one of those long nights, he decided he would follow her, and he would catch her inner thoughts. Maybe it would shed light to the source of the problem since it began a week later, after the battle on Crait. 

She paid him no mind when he walked beside her observing her carefully. She was quiet, walking towards one destination which was nowhere in particular. She stopped after a while, and Dameron looked at her peculiarly. Her hand reached for her waist as if pulling a blade out of its sheath, but there was only air to fill the space. She bent her knees in a fighting stance, and not a second later did she begin a drill with her imaginary sword. 

An upward slash. Block. Cross strike, block. Down cut, circle maneuver. She dodged an imaginary object coming towards her with a quick side step, and then another slash in the spot where she jumped from. She huffed, a bead of sweat forming on the corner of her brow as she turned her head around. She was surrounded in this fantasy world she was creating in her dreams. She parried all the attacks with her air saber, and sliced at whatever enemy was near. She threw the blade, and Dameron could envision her calling it back into her hands like a boomerang. She was handling her enemies well, but she halted. 

She outstretched her hand, and she let the blade drop. Dameron could almost hear the clank it would make on a hard ground. “Use the Force to focus,” she said to herself as she calmed her breathing. She whispered ever so silently, “I am the Force, the Force is me.” She held her hands out, and this time, Dameron could feel what she was doing because it was lifting him into the air. He was struggling to get out of the trap he was set in, but to no avail. She was strong, he couldn’t stop what she was doing. 

He lifted higher into the air, and before he could blink, she flicked her hands and he went flying into the nearest tree. His head whipped back and slammed against the tree causing him dizziness. He fell unceremoniously down, and let his head roll to catch his sightings. As his vision became one, he overheard what Rey said as she sat down and crossed her legs. She was in a meditative state, but she growled out, “I will find you Rey, it’s only a matter of time.” Dameron passed out soon after.

Dameron was found in the morning. He received the medical treatment he needed, and he told Rey all that he could remember last night. He made a special note to the words she spoke. 

Rey stared at him inquisitively before responding, “I don’t know.” 

Dameron was perceptive, and he could read the lies on her face, so he repeated, “I don’t know?” He gave her that face of a man who was not easily fooled by shallow attempts at hiding secrets. She was adamant about keeping it because she repeated the same three words. She was going to play dumb, and Dameron was too tired to confront her lies. “Look Rey, I don’t care why you said those words, or who you were playing as. I just want a good night's rest for once.” That wasn’t completely true. This sleepwalker definitely peaked his interests, but he would be fine with getting a couple of hours of sleep instead of learning the truth. She swore to do better, and left him to rest.

Sadly for Dameron, a concussion meant no sleep which meant he was up chasing after her again. Now, he was just torturing himself. He watched from a fairly safe distance, but he would not hesitate to get close to hear her words. He was a man who lived in danger. 

“Have you found any sign of the Resistance?” Dameron realized she was playing opposites, and pretended to be with the First Order. “What about…the girl?” Her covered eyes stared down one space where he assumed a person would be. “I don’t care about try. You either do or you don’t.” Her hand outstretches, and she lifts a large rock from the ground. “Be. Better,” she whispers and her hand balls into a fist. The rock bursts, and chunks of it go flying towards Dameron. He ducks and dodges, and manages to avoid any further harm. “Commander, I’m putting you in charge of this mission. Don’t disappoint me like the last one.” Her voice holds a weight to it as if she  _ would _ be a person to murder a man in cold blood. 

“You always chose the crazy ones,” Dameron chides to himself, but Rey’s head snaps to the sound.

“Who said that,” she asks, and Dameron panics. Had she been awake this whole time? “Shut up. Get out!” She shouts and turns her attention back to Dameron. “Hello?” Uh, alright. She was going to play dumb again.

“Hello.” Dameron responds, coming out of hiding. 

“Who are you?” She asks cautiously.

“Uh, okay,” he laughs but she doesn’t share the same sentiment. “What do you mean who? Open your eyes, I know that you’re awake.” He begins to call her out on her bluff, but her frown deepens.

“My eyes are open, but I can’t see your face.” She’s looking around but her eyes lids don’t lift.

“M’kay, stop playing around Rey, explain yourself-” he touches her shoulder but she reels away. 

“Rey?” She looks at herself then back at Dameron. “Dameron,” she reveals as if it’s new information for her. It’s at this point, Poe Dameron realized it may not be Rey he’s speaking to. If that is the case, then Rey is possessed. He backs away slowly, unsure what to do if his friend is possessed, so he is hesitant to ask.

“Who are you?” Rey takes a step forward.

“I’m the last person you would think.” She begins Force choking him until he falls unconscious.

With a bruise on his neck, and a concussion on his head. He’s gotten fed up with Rey’s dreams, or possessions, or whatever. He’s tired and he wants answers. He intimidates her to tell the truth, but she is persistent to keep the truth with her to her grave. “You owe me some answers.”

“No I don’t,” she argues back.

“I’ve got a raw head, and broken throat. I deserve to know for the last couple of nights, why I’ve gotten my ass kicked.” 

“Because you were snooping,” she tried to put simply, but he was no fool. He could see through the facade.

“No Rey, no more lies. Tell me what’s been going on. You’ve been acting differently since Crait, and I want to know why.” His straight forwardness seemed to work, because she caved. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She gets out weakly, avoiding eye contact. She was nervous about her secret, afraid to speak it. Dameron reached his hand, and grasped her forearm. She glanced at him and he let out a deep breath before speaking.

“I know I’m typically a grounded person (I kind of have to be), but what I witnessed last night was not grounded. Last night I witnessed a possession, and I just want to know whether I should start  _ praying  _ to this “Force” to keep spirits away.” His lack of understanding the Force got a light chuckle out of Rey, but it only lasted a moment. She took a second to gain the courage to speak her truth.

“I have this...connection with the new Supreme Leader through the Force,” she doesn’t go through the  _ befores _ , just to the afters. “I have been repressing the link since Crait, and I think it’s caused me to sleep walk. Although, when I sleep walk, I live life through Kylo’s eyes.” But it’s worse than that. Dameron knows because Kylo Ren could hear others on Rey’s end of the line. He could hear him, and with that, use Rey’s body as a vessel to perform heinous acts. She must not realize that since she continues to say, “he must have been training and you had gotten caught in the crossfire.” 

Dameron could see her eyes water, and he predicted the apologies threatening to pass her lips. He could tell her the truth. How she was a phone line for the Supreme Leader, but he could see how much just having a connection with the fink was breaking her. To tell her it ran deeper than what she assumed was not his place. He was going to support her, even if that meant keeping a secret himself. “It’s alright,” he sat up to give the girl a hug. He knows she didn’t get many growing up, so he decides to let her experience the joy of them more. “I’ll just learn to tune the noise out.” 

After some time, Dameron was back in the old hut. He promised Rey he wouldn't share her secret with a soul, and he was going to take that to his grave. He slept early to get a few hours of rest before inevitably waking to the sound of Rey’s movements. He opened his eyes and looked outside of his window, watching as Rey walked deeper into the woods. He lifted himself out of his spread, and took to catching up to her. 

He knew he couldn’t speak otherwise the Supreme Leader would realize Rey was asleep. Dameron watched her do the drills and speak to commanding officers until he knew it was safe. He walked over to her mumbling figure, choosing to ignore the crazy ramblings of the psycho speaking through her. Dameron grabbed her by the shoulders, and began walking her back to her shelter. Laying her back down on her spread, he sat beside her, waiting for her to make any move to leave again. When she shifted, she began to snore, and Dameron sighed in relief. For once in these past two months, he was going to sleep. 


End file.
